


dual structures of cruelty

by 9luciddreams (1degenerates)



Category: Boardwalk Empire
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Character Study, F/M, Hands, Not Incest, One Shot, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Tumblr Prompt, Twins, bb!richard, flashback attack, i mean if you want it to be maybe it can be if you squint, let's get in our time machine, prompt, richard reminisces, when we were young
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27431950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1degenerates/pseuds/9luciddreams
Summary: They were once so united, but Richard’s changed and Emma can’t deal.
Relationships: Emma Harrow & Richard Harrow, Emma Harrow/Richard Harrow
Kudos: 5





	dual structures of cruelty

If there’s one thing Richard recalls quite often about his pre-war life, it’s Emma’s hands. Greedy, always stretching, reaching out to eagerly grab hold of something, usually his own doubtful palms that she would force face up to study and then promptly lace her fingers in between his and drag him off somewhere.

She was always dragging him places; she was older by a little over a minute, Richard wouldn’t be surprised if Emma pulled him out of their own mother’s womb just so she had someone right behind her, backing her up every step of the way. Sometimes Richard worried that outsiders thought he was constantly tagging along with her and her friends, but nothing on Emma’s face gave him a clear sign that she minded and that eased his concerns. Her hands were always there to guide him, after all.

Or tease him. His sister’s frisky fingers like to pinch and poke and prod and pull at every part of him. Publicly, he frequently found it nuisance and would occasionally make a big stink about it just to prove that point. But then he would turn his head to the side, away from public scrutiny (or Emma’s careful observation) and there in the green gleam of his eyes it was obvious. Secretly, it thrilled him.

Her favorite thing to do was cover his eyes and lead him off to undisclosed locations that she had previously scouted out for their little adventures. These places usually ended up being nearby abandoned barns, mazes and mazes of cornstalks, or concealed patches in the woods.

They both enjoyed spending drafty summer nights when only the stars lit up the sky in a dilapidated barn approximately two miles from their home. The loft was still intact and they usually set up camp there and talked until their throats became hoarse. But before they would both drift off, Emma’s hand would seem to search his out and slide gently into his own – the only way they could fall asleep feeling safe.

One day she dragged him to a clearing in the woods for what seemed like a clandestine meeting. The mid-afternoon sunlight was peeking through the tops of trees. Richard kept tripping over his feet, he was at that awkward age and even though she’d been at it for years, he was seemingly still unused to Emma’s hands tugging him along; though Richard knew his body to be a willing partner to the constant physical pleading that her fingers and palms attached upon his form.

Just before it seemed they would reach their destination, again, there were her hands – ever-present and sweetly stifling – shielding his eyesight, but still drawing him forward. Richard thought he heard the sound of running water and girlish giggling. His feet were forced at an abrupt stop and her hands fluttered away from his face. As his eyes adjusted, he saw three of Emma’s girl friends and two boys he knew from school, Paul and Thomas.

Paul was entertaining two of the girls while Thomas watched on. When Emma approached the group, Richard in tow, the third girl coyly looked over at them. Richard remembered she introduced herself as Kit the first time she was over for dinner. She said hello to Emma and gave Richard a small smile.

Richard could sense something was up – Paul wore a devilish smirk on his face, the two girls’ giggling had adopted a more sinister tone, Thomas was shuffling his shoes in the dirt – especially since Emma was involved, a tyrannical ringleader of sorts, she wasn’t always on her best behavior.

One quick look from Emma and Paul began what was obviously planned between the two of them either earlier that morning or possibly the day before. 

“So, you girls up for a little game?” Paul wasn’t even attempting to hide his perverted glee. They turned to give one another a conspiring glance, giggled again, and turned back to him and nodded their heads, bobbing up and down quickly with no deliberation on how this play could play out.

Thomas stopped scuffing his shoes and seemed to be paying real close attention now. Paul’s eyes darted a quick glance at Thomas and smirked. He told Millie, as that was one’s the girls’ names, to go behind a tree and kiss Thomas, his face appearing shy for a second and then steeling himself with what he wanted to be perfect nonchalance, but instead he looked constipated. Millie looked to her friend and giggled yet again then shrugged her shoulders with seemingly detached agreement.

The two of them made their way behind one of the thick trees, the other four watching closely to make sure they did the deed. When they came back Emma boldly volunteered Richard to go next and offered Kit to be his partner. Kit blushed and Richard stammered that he wasn’t aware of what the day’s plans were and what was required of him. Emma shot back that he got a good enough warning when Thomas and Millie went first. She shoved him practically all the way to the trees, Millie silently following close behind. When the three of them were clear of the others’ vision, Emma got close up to Richard, draped her arms around his shoulders and whispered, “Just do this, okay? Do it for me.”

When she stepped back Richard saw the same request in her eyes; they seemed sad and sincere and Richard knew better, but didn’t care. He would do anything for her. Emma moved back a few feet to the other side of the tree as Kit slowly approached. Richard felt uneasy, but saw Emma peek her head out, her thin fingers wrapped around the tree, with a strange gleam in her eyes. He bent down to give Kit a kiss and slowly counted a few seconds in his head and pulled his head back with an odd jerk.

Emma’s hands were upon him again, taking him in, and Kit had been scooted out of the way so that she had no choice but to scurry back to the group. Emma was caressing Richard’s face with such raw affection, but also clearly examining him for any sign of change she figured would bloom upon his beautiful face - her exact duplicate - from the experience. Richard could only look at her with wonder. “Good boy,” was all Emma said to him with one last touch to his face before she scampered off and returned to the group.

***

“You’re not yourself anymore. You’re not as eager to be with me like you used to,” Emma says with a pitiful look on her face, fingers at work taunting his buttons, then moving up to play with his shirt collar. Her eyes never once glancing up to his face, she was forcing her gaze on her ministrations so fervently.

“…Not true … Emma,” came Richard’s gruff reply. She admonishes him with a slow shake of her head and walks away from him, devastated.

She hasn’t looked at her own brother properly since he got back. Richard retreated into himself, never offering himself to her anymore. He would often sit alone in his bedroom, hand on the ruined side of his face and muttering to himself. 

“You’re pulling away from me. I can see it. Don’t lie to me, Richard, you’re not very good at it. Not with me.” 

She sighs, her gaze out the window, but not really looking at anything. 

All Richard could see was the mangled side of his face in the reflection of the glass. He turns so he wouldn’t have to see it any longer. Quite right when Emma turns back to face him she got an eyeful.

“Oh Richard, you know how I feel when you go around without covering it up!” she wails. 

Richard apologetically searches the room for the bandages he’d kept handy around the house. 

“… Will you … help?” 

Emma sighs again, her hands busying themselves in the pleats of her skirt. She begrudgingly gets up and takes the box of bandages from his hands, then proceeds to unravel a long strip and weaves it around the ridged red almost scabbed over a portion of his face, over his ear and leading up to the center of the top of his head. The bandage partly covers his hair, but still leaves the unblemished side of his face visible to her discerning eye and insatiable hands. 

She caresses the bandaged side once she completed her task.

“It’s unnatural, you know. You don’t even look like yourself … you don’t look like me anymore.” 

She begins to cry and Richard winces. Emma was never cruel to him, not in this way. Maybe to others, but never him.

“…hmm…”

Tears stream down her face. Her right hand reaches up to caress what was left of his once beautiful face.

“You’re leaving me. I know it. You’re going to disappear forever.” 

Sobbing, she buries herself in his arms, her hands swarming – they run over his shoulders, down again, arms encompassing his torso, but then changing their mind. She wants to look at him full on without the bandages, but finds that she cannot. Her hands always got in the way – blocking the sight from her eyes. Richard wraps his arms around her and tries comforting her, but knows it's impossible.

Later that night when Emma is fast asleep, a pained look on her beautiful face, Richard slips into her bedroom. He gazes at her sleeping form for a good amount of time.  
True to Emma’s premonitory words, he pulls a disappearing act but not before ghosting his hands along her face, memorizing every hill and valley in the maps of her appearance with the pads of his fingertips.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: When you give half of you, I want all of you.
> 
> Originally posted on livejournal: 
> 
> https://9luciddreams.livejournal.com/3871.html


End file.
